writer & YA author

debut

Three months on from receiving editorial notes and I’m out the other side of my first structural edit. I feel equally wrung out and exhilarated by how much better my manuscript is looking at this point. Here are some editing stats I collected along the way:

The manuscript is now off to some sensitivity readers (I will do a post on this at a later stage) and once I’ve received their feedback and edited accordingly, I will send it back to Jane at Text Publishing. Hopefully I’ll have done enough for it to be ready for a line edit, but we’ll see. This is my first time and it’s a huge learning curve, so if it comes back for another structural edit, that’s OK too. I hardly feel qualified to give advice at this stage of the process, but I thought it might be worth sharing a few of the things I’ve learnt so far. Continue reading →

There is a lot out there about whether or not a debut writer needs a literary agent, or if signing with one is even something that can happen without a published book to your name. I can’t give a definitive answer about that, but I can say that signing with Danielle Binks and Jacinta Di Mase has been one of the best parts of my path to publication thus far. So I’d love to share a little bit about how that came to be and what it’s done for me. Continue reading →

If you’re a writer and/or on Twitter, chances are you have come across the term ‘Own Voices’ at some stage or another. If not, the basic gist is that the hashtag was started as a way to “highlight kidlit about diverse characters written by authors from that same diverse group”, as explained by Corinne Duyvis, the writer behind the term. Further, the non-profit organization ‘We Need Diverse Books’ defines the term ‘diverse’ as “including (but not limited to) LGBTQIA, Native (it’s an American org so I’d add Aboriginal people here), people of colour, gender diversity, people with disabilities, and ethnic, cultural, and religious minorities”. So that’s what it’s about in a broader sense. Continue reading →

Is that you don’t talk about being out on pitch! And when you’ve spent so long writing and editing and rewriting and (maybe) getting an agent and then rewriting again it’s quite jarring to all of a sudden have to sit back and just… wait.

In traditional publishing, being ‘out on pitch’ is when your agent has sent your manuscript to the publisher/s they believe it is best suited for and is awaiting a reply. I asked my agent Danielle Binks at Jacinta Di Mase for her thoughts on the process: Continue reading →

When I sat down to write a book, it was YA that came out. It was always going to be. I’d never really considered anything else until someone asked me recently if I would ever write for adults. I’m not sure the answer to that, but I am sure about why I write YA. It’s because of the books that are most important to me, my own life experiences and the feeling that maybe young people are our best bet.

For some reason though, I am completely averse to ever telling anyone that I actually sat down and wrote 50,000 and something words about people and events I made up in my head. It seems like a ludicrous thing to have gone and done; who do I even think I am?

I’m trying to get better at talking about it, IT being my YA manuscript Please Don’t Hug Me, because I’ve just signed with a literary agent (!!!)

So what better way to talk about it than to avoid talking at all and start a blog instead? Hello!